Dubai Electricity & Water Authority’s (Dewa’s) AED246m ($67m) Al-Lusaily Reservoir project is nearing completion, with only 50 per cent of mechanical works remaining.

Abu-Dhabi based Ghantoot Group has completed construction on the two reservoirs, and they are scheduled come online in December 2014 and January 2015.

The reservoirs have a capacity of 60 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD) of desalinated water each, and will bring Dubai’s water storage capacity to 790MIGD.

They were part of a wider scheme to increase Dubai’s water supply capacity as demand increased rapidly in the last decade. However, growth in demand has slowed since 2012 thanks to conservation measures, and desalination schemes were cancelled.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar have also invested in large scale water storage schemes, to ensure continuous supplies to their growing populations.